E/CN.4/2000/16/Add.1 page 16 There is also linguistic diversity among Roma. An estimated 60 per cent speak Romany in the family but also Romanian or Hungarian depending on their geographic location. However, there are also those who have lost their language and speak only Romanian or Hungarian. As a consequence of a deliberate assimilation policy of the former communist regime, most Roma have settled. B. Forms and manifestations of discrimination against the Roma 64. While prejudices against the Roma tend to predominate, remarks by some representatives of this minority are indicative of its ambiguous situation in Romanian society. The Roma King considers that “Romania is the country the Roma feel most at home in, and this explains why they are so numerous”. The representative of the Roma Party says that “there is no racism or xenophobia, but some discriminatory attitudes arise out of the deterioration of conditions of life in Romania, poverty and old attitudes which still predominate against the Roma”. There is also a fairly prosperous and well-integrated Roma elite. Other contacts, however, stressed the links between racial discrimination and the poor socio-economic and social conditions affecting the majority of Roma in Romania. 65. The representatives of the Roma associations, however, are in agreement with the officials in recognizing that the police have made efforts to put an end to collective violence (houses burned and persons murdered) and to police attacks on Roma communities between 1990 and 1996 (see A/49/677, para. 85, A/50/476, para. 59 and Amnesty International, Roumanie: mise à jour des préoccupations d'Amnesty International (Romania: updating of Amnesty International's concerns), September 1993, AI:EUR 39/13/93), even though the perpetrators have not all been brought to justice. Moreover, as in the case of other minorities in Romania and as a result of democratic reforms, the political and cultural rights of the Roma are better protected. By cooperating with the Roma associations, the police are in the process of reforming the behaviour of officers who used to ill-treat and torture detainees of Roma origin and tended to stigmatize the Roma in their fight against crime. 66. The facts reported below do testify to the continued existence of some forms of racial discrimination inherited from the past, but are not intended to detract from the numerous measures the Government has already taken to deal with the problem of discrimination against the Roma at its source, in other words, their socio-economic marginalization. 1. Discrimination in education and employment 67. A study by the University of Bucharest in 1993 shows that 80 per cent of Roma have no vocational training and that only 23 per cent of the members of the community have a job. In the workplace, due to their low level of training and education, Roma are given the lowest jobs and find upward mobility in their work difficult. Discrimination against Roma also plays a substantial role in job promotion. 68. It should be borne in mind that the policy of assimilation of the Roma and the elimination of independent economic activities under the socialist regime resulted in this minority abandoning traditional occupations such as brick-making, copper- or wood-working and trade.